


stars in his eyes

by ohlookatthestars (KanbaraAkhito)



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Soulmate AU, T to be safe, bois this has been sitting in drafts for Ages, theyre gay and Difficult and then gay and happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 00:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13042293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KanbaraAkhito/pseuds/ohlookatthestars
Summary: Jason Todd and Kyle Rayner met in the middle of a multiversal crisis.At first, Jason didn’t even register his words had been said. At first, all he could think was,Who the hell does this fucking celery stick think he is?After, Kyle punched him in the face and floored him with a giant green hand. Jason kicked him in the jaw for his trouble.





	stars in his eyes

Smoke curled off the end of her cigarette, filling the air as she blew out a breath. Jason tried not to choke on it.

“Mom,” he whispered into the night. The darkness made him bolder.

She hummed, signaling him to continue.

Jason fiddled with the words, trying them in his head over and over until too much time had passed and Catherine turned to look at him.

“Was Dad your soulmate?” he tumbled out, feeling himself knot with tension.

Catherine frowned and Jason’s heart stopped. She was rarely upset with him, but it hurt worse than the familiar twist of hunger when she was.

“Why do you ask, Jay baby?”

Jason looked down, disappointed. “No reason,” he mumbled, “Was curious, is all.”

“Nothing wrong with a little curiosity, sweetheart.” Her eyes searched the sky, as though she could make out the stars through the pollution that hung thick over Crime Alley.

Jason chanced a glance at her, and felt his eagerness return some at the sight of her smile.

“No, baby,” she answered, her voice gentle. “Your father wasn’t my soulmate.”

She said nothing more, but her eyes slipped to her words, faded and grey. Jason uncovered his own wrist, undoing the cloth he’d used to hide the words. His, by contrast, were bold and black as the day they’d appeared.

_‘Everyone just relax, I’ll handle it.’_

Jason didn’t know what to expect with words like those. An endless array of possible situations ran through his mind as they had a hundred times before. Really, Jason thought it made his soulmate sound pretentious. Whoever they were, Jason was going to punch them in the face.

-

Kyle Rayner had been born with three inked phrases across his wrist. At first, his mother had been nothing short of confused. Most of the children Kyle’s age possessed a single ebony line of script, detailing the first words their soulmate would address them with. No one understood why Kyle had three.

This continued until Maura Rayner chanced upon an old friend, mentioning offhand her son’s strange fate. The friend, it seemed, had been in a similar situation, with two sentences scrawled on her skin as opposed to the common one. She simply had two soulmates. The three lived together in amorous harmony, and that was that.

Kyle Rayner had three soulmates, but he would not be so lucky as his mother’s friend.

-

By the age of twelve, Jason was alone.

His mother was long dead, and he’d been surviving on the streets of Crime Alley without her help. Thievery, trickery, and escape were all Jason knew, the rest of him buried deep with his mother’s death. And it had to do. Compassion wasn’t a virtue in Crime Alley. Someone who thought so wouldn’t survive a night.

So Jason hid his heart, and put up the disingenuous facade all the rats of Crime Alley enabled themselves with. He ran for small gangs, stole what he could, and curled up at night in whatever shelter could be found.

Then, Jason Todd made the most rewarding mistake of his life.

The day was hot, the air muggy and uncomfortable. Most of Gotham’s citizens took the opportunity to lounge in the comfort of their air conditioned apartments, letting the heat lull them into a lethargic complacency. But when the citizens were away, the rats would come to play.

It had been too tempting. The car was sleek and high end, like nothing Jason had ever seen before. His focus was on the fresh rubber tires. He could pawn them off to one of the auto shops east of the Alley and make enough to get him through the next two weeks. Jacking the tires was easy, but Jason had grown up watching and waiting and listening. He heard the car owner’s return, and booked it with the tires he had.

He would return later to finish the job, and it was then that he would be caught. Jason just didn’t expect to be caught by a lunatic in a bat suit. He’d swung the tire iron with every bit of strength his scrawny, malnourished body could offer, taking pride in the way the built man doubled over.

How was he to know, that mere months later he’d be flying off rooftops with that same man, dressed in the tasteful likeness to a traffic light?

-

“Dick?” Jason asked, pausing the riveting storyline of their newest PS2 purchase.

“Yeah, little wing?”

Jason looked up at the man who was supposed to be his brother, at the man who’d flipped around in the same outfit he had for years before him. Dick matched his gaze, an encouraging smile reaching the startling blue of his eyes.

“Do you…Barbie is your soulmate, right?” Jason’s voice was quiet, as though he was afraid the question would offend Dick.

Dick nodded, patiently prompting Jason to continue.

“What was it like? When she said her words to you?”

Dick smiled, reaching out to pull Jason into his side. Jason curled closer, eyes fixed on his brother’s.

“It was,” Dick pondered his choice in words, “It was weird, honestly. I was with Kori for the longest time and I loved her. I really did.”

“Did you break up with her because you weren’t soulmates?” Jason queried, confused. Dick had to have known this, considering he would have been unfamiliar with Kori’s first words to him.

“No,” Dick shook his head. “That never mattered much to me, or to Kori. You don’t always fall in love with your soulmate, little wing.”

Jason thought about his mother and nodded along.

“How did you know it was Barbara?”

Dick grinned a little, like he always did when someone mentioned Babs.

“She said my words,” Dick shrugged, his voice quieting. “And I felt this rush. It wasn’t that we immediately fell for each other head over heels, but it felt like we were connected, like Babs was a friend I’d known long ago finally come home.”

Jason considered this. “And then you fell in love?”

“And then we fell in love.”

Dick deserved that, Jason thought privately, to fall in love. Their first meeting had been wrought with tension, but their relationship had been changing recently, and Jason liked having someone he could call a brother, liked having people who promised to protect him.

“She still doesn’t let you call her Barbie,” Jason pointed out instead, grinning at the little privilege Barbara had chosen to offer him, but no one else.

Dick rolled his eyes and pulled Jason into a headlock, ruffling his hair despite his shrieks. “That’s a right reserved only for you, little wing. Now are we gonna finish this game, or not?”

-

Three years after Batman found him, Jason Todd died protecting a mother who gave him up from a monster who cared about nothing but chaos and strife.

His father was too late.

Across the country, the third line on Kyle Rayner’s wrist faded to a scar, the possibility of a life he could have shared ripped away.

-

Alexandra Dewitt was a photographer, and she was the most beautiful being Kyle had ever laid eyes on.

“Are you going to keep staring? Or are you going to introduce yourself?”

Kyle felt a lurch as his heart tripped into overtime. _Those were his words._ The topmost line on Kyle’s wrist tingled and his mouth fell open.

“Um,” he stuttered, “Sorry, I’m—I’m the new artist, Kyle—“

“Kyle Rayner,” Alexandra breathed with him, her eyes wide.

She held up her own wrist, and Kyle’s eyes traced over her words without truly reading them.

“Nice to meet you,” she grinned, “soulmate.”

“Yeah,” Kyle jittered out, feeling his heart relax slightly. “Uh, sorry, I guess.”

Alexandra raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

“For having to carry around such lame first words all your life.”

She stared for a moment, then burst out laughing. Kyle’s heart squeezed as he memorized the sound.

-

Kyle and Alexandra would break up once, but when Ganthet decided to bestow upon Kyle the honor of the ring, she would stand at his side and aid him.

Months later, Kyle would return to his apartment to find her dead, the neat curl of her letters on his wrist fading into a pale red on his skin, like he’d scratched them there himself.

There were two faded lines on Kyle’s wrist, now. He covered them with a band, masking the pain of a love lost and a love never found.

It took him weeks to notice when the black ink of the third phrase bled back into existence. By then, the owner of the second line had found him.

-

Jason Todd’s return to life was unprecedented and largely unprepared for.

Years went by with the League of Assassins, as Jason was trained into a warrior of high caliber by Talia Al Ghul. Little did he know that she mothered the child of a father who couldn’t save him. A child he would one day call his brother.

The words on his wrist were stark as they were before his tragic end, and Jason largely paid them no mind. Rarely, in the deep wraps of night, his mother’s words would flow back to him as he remembered a past life. Jason would wonder, briefly, what his soulmate had experienced at the time of his death, before convincing himself he didn’t care. It didn’t matter, not in the grand scheme of things.

He would run back to Gotham with revenge in his heart, betrayed by his father not for being too late, but for allowing the creature that killed his own son to keep his life. It was a wound that would tear Jason’s insides apart, his fragmented memories doing nothing to dampen his pain. He would fight like he had nothing to lose, when in reality a world of cares and desires rested on his shoulders.

He allowed himself once, to take solace in the coal black ink that stained his wrist, before he’d retched over the side of the bed, shaking and sick. _Who the hell would want a soulmate like him._

Eventually, his memories would return. Eventually, forgiveness and understanding would replace the revenge in his heart, to some extent, at least. Fate gave Jason another chance at family, and he’d be damned if he lost them again.

-

There was Donna and Soranik, and in between them, was Jade.

She was very green. Kyle had been sure he’d had enough green to last him multiple lifetimes, but then Jade came whirling in with her powers of great similarity to those of the Green Lantern Corps, and her very _green_ skin.

Her words to him had been quick and sharp and full of emotion, as Jade tended to be. When her powers had been lost to her, Kyle had restored them with the deity-like powers of Ion. 

Their relationship was a tangle from the get go, soulmates or not, and for a time, they loved each other. Then she left and Kyle had met Soranik, but of course Jade returned in time to throw that relationship out of balance too.

They’d known from the start, though, that it would never work out between them, soulmates or not. One last kiss, an end to their verdant relationship, and Kyle and Jade let each other go.

The words on his wrist, just below the scars that were Alex’s, faded to, ironically, a pale green.

Kyle had one soulmate left, and he was in for one hell of a surprise.

-

Jason Todd and Kyle Rayner met in the middle of a multiversal crisis.

At first, Jason didn’t even register his words had been said. At first, all he could think was, _Who the hell does this fucking celery stick think he is?_

After, Kyle punched him in the face and floored him with a giant green hand. Jason kicked him in the jaw for his trouble. 

When they were both winded, panting and lying next to each other on the ground, Jason referenced Kyle’s line when he’d pulled Donna out of whatever warp in space she’d been trapped in. “ _‘Come to Papa?’_ Really?”

Kyle was going to reply insultingly, really he was. And yet, what left his mouth was, “You’re my soulmate.”

Jason froze and Kyle knew immediately that he’d felt it too, the strange zing that had shot across his wrist when Jason had yelled, ‘Well?!’ at him. Kyle had felt that same zing twice before, and both times had resulted in heartbreak. 

“What are you talking about?”

Kyle sighed. “Jason, I’ve heard the word ‘well’ about a million times in my life. None of them felt the same as when you said it.”

Jason looked away and Donna gave Kyle an amused look, pulling them both off the ground. 

“Seven billion people on the planet, infinitely more in space, and my soulmate is the guy that punches me in the face within hours of meeting me. Of course.”

“To be fair,” Jason piped up. Kyle wished he wouldn’t. “I have also, punched Batman in the face.”

Kyle nearly gave himself whiplash turning to look at Jason. “You’ve _what_?”

Donna snorted. “Batman’s his father, you helpless fool.”

“Batman’s his—Oh my God,” Kyle whined, dropping his face in his hands. Of course. Because the universe decided Kyle was just one large cosmic mistake, _Batman_ was his soulmate’s—

“Jason?” Kyle said all of a sudden, his voice soft, “You said your name was Jason?”

Jason gave him a strange look but nodded all the same. 

The words tumbled out before Kyle could stop them, “You’re the Robin that died.”

He swore at himself internally and could almost feel exactly how much Donna wanted to punch him. He waited for Jason’s anger, his violence. It never came. 

Instead, Jason caught his gaze, reading his face for a moment before looking away.

“That’s me,” he intoned, his voice quieting as he repeated Kyle’s words, “The Robin that died.”

Something in Kyle’s chest twisted sharply and he decided he never wanted to hear Jason’s voice like that again.

-

All in all, their adventures through the nanoverse could have gone worse. Kyle got to know Jason and Jason got to know Kyle. And Donna who knew them both got to watch them bluster and bicker from a safe, amused distance.

The problem was after.

After, Jason seemed to want nothing to do with Kyle. He was content to return to his life and forget Kyle ever existed. Except that was a little hard, them being soulmates and all.

“Jason,” Kyle frowned, “Shouldn’t we talk about this?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Jason’s voice was carefully neutral, but Kyle could see something flickering in the stormy grey of his eyes.

“Look,” Kyle said, “if you’re not into the whole soulmates thing, I’ll respect that. I’m not going to push you any further than you’re comfortable with.”

Jason eyed him from where he stood, leaning against his bike.

“And if I am?” he asked quietly.

Kyle hadn’t been expecting _that_.

He blinked. “Well if you are, that’s great.”

Jason glared at him, unimpressed. “That’s great how, exactly? How would the two of us have even a _chance_ at making this work? You’re space police and I’m an Earth-dwelling outlaw. In what universe would this end well for us?”

It was a logical concern, and Kyle had to admit that he didn’t really know the answers to Jason’s questions. That wasn’t going to stop him from trying, though, not when they were both on the prepice of falling in—in something. What, he had yet to figure out.

“I don’t know,” he answered finally.

Jason’s glare only deepened.

“I don’t know, but I want to try. Do you?”

It was a simple query at it’s core, and it took Jason by surprise.

His eyes scanned Kyle’s face, pensive. “Yes,” he said finally, and somehow, Kyle knew what it cost him to say it.

He smiled. “Okay. Okay, we’ll try then. We don’t have to promise each other anything. All we have to do is try.”

Jason settled a bit, nodding jerkily, and Kyle was struck dumb by his floundering.

His heart held memories of Alex and Jade, and his wrist held their words, but still Kyle felt his heart flutter at the sight of Jason in the light of the setting sun. Still Kyle felt himself go, _Maybe._

-

“Put me down.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “You could thank me, you know, for saving you from plummeting to death.”

Jason considered this. “Or, you could drop me.”

Kyle laughed, rewarded when Jason’s lips twitched into a smile. “And then where would I be?”

“Helpless,” Jason replied immediately. “Found dead in your apartment, having choked on your own paint water.”

“Ah yes,” Kyle hummed. “The paint water jokes. Never get old.”

Jason frowned mockingly, rapping his knuckles against the side of Kyle’s head. “Paint water and death jokes are all we have in this relationship.”

Kyle gasped. “And I thought you loved me for my personality.”

“Of course not,” Jason replied. 

“I really should drop you.”

“You wouldn’t,” Jason grinned. “You like me too much.”

 _Yeah_ , Kyle thought, _Yeah, I do._

-

“Red Him,” Bizarro’s smile was infectious as he floated excitedly by the door, clearly having awaited Jason’s return.

“Hey, Biz,” Jason laughed, shutting the door behind him. “What’s going on?”

“Little Night Light am here,” Bizarro said happily, and Jason bit his lip, feeling his heart pick up despite himself.

“Kyle?” he asked Bizarro quietly, eyes flickering to the living room where Artemis was likely entertaining his boyfriend. _Christ_ , Jason thought, _his_ boyfriend.

Bizarro smiled softly, noting Jason’s nerves and patting him encouragingly.

Jason strode into the living area, grinning quickly at Artemis in greeting before letting his eyes fall on Kyle.

“The little one has returned,” Artemis teased, noticing his tense stature.

“Jason!” Kyle grinned up at him, reaching for him across the coffee table.

“You’re going to fall, Rayner,” he chuckled, walking around the table before Kyle did that exactly.

“Couldn’t help myself.” Kyle winked, arms settling around Jason’s waist so he could pull the other man into him.

Jason bit his lip again, locking his fingers behind Kyle’s neck, thumbs framing his face. Distantly, he noticed Artemis and Bizarro’s quiet exit from the room. 

“I missed you,” he said, quiet. _He could have this_ , he reminded himself, as Kyle had many times before. _He deserved this._

“I missed you too,” Kyle replied, leaning forward to press their lips together.

The kiss was warm and Jason relished in the feel of Kyle against him after two months of assurances from Donna that his danger-prone soulmate hadn’t gotten himself skewered on a planet lightyears from home. He knew Donna did the same for Kyle, and yeah, maybe his heart beat a little faster at the thought of that. 

“Been causing trouble?” Kyle asked anyway when they pulled away.

Jason scoffed. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that, Mr. I Started A War Between Two Planets By Giving Royalty A Hotdog?”

Kyle pouted. “That was once, and I was still a greenie.” He grinned, delighting at his own pun.

“Ha ha,” Jason intoned flatly, “Hilarious.”

It occurred to them that Artemis and Bizarro, bless their souls, were now returned. Jason sent them a grateful look over Kyle’s shoulder before pulling his tired boyfriend onto the couch.

-

“Why do you always look at me like that?” Kyle asked.

They were lying on Jason’s bed, Kyle’s fingers tracing over the words on the inside of Jason’s wrist. _His words._

“Like what?”

“Like I’m going to run away.”

Jason looked down, frowning slightly and following the movement of Kyle’s hand for a few moments.

“Why do you keep your wrist covered?” he asked eventually, in lieu of answering.

Kyle blinked, his hand stilling as he cast a glance at his own wrist.

“Oh,” he said, “Habit, I suppose. I wasn’t trying to hide anything, it’s just been that way for—“ his voice quieted, “for a long time.”

“Alex and Jade?” Jason asked, no judgement in his voice.

Jason knew Kyle had three soulmates, he was even familiar with the concept. His youngest brother had two lines written across the expanse of his own skin.

Kyle nodded, moving to unwrap the band. Jason was faster, catching his wrist.

“You don’t have to. I was just curious.” He winced, a past memory flickering in his eyes.

Kyle shook his head. “I don’t mind. It’s just been there so long I never thought to take it off.”

He pulled the cloth off and held his wrist out in offering, Jason looking to him still for consent before touching him with those long, scarred, beautiful fingers of his. His hands matched the pace of his eyes as he drew gently over each word, red to green to black. Slowly, his eyes met Kyle’s.

“I’m a mess,” he mumbled, “Or I was, I don’t know. So many things went wrong, and, yeah, things have settled, but I—I did things I’m not proud of. I attacked the people I’ve recently got to calling family and I—I don’t know,” his voice faded. 

It wasn’t like Jason to not know what to say and Kyle squeezed his wrist gently, a silent reassurance. 

“I guess I always thought that whoever had my words on their wrist,” he started again, slow, “was probably the unluckiest bastard out there.”

Kyle slid his hand up Jason’s wrist and wound their fingers together.

“Bullshit.”

“What?” Jason looked up at him, startled.

“Jason when you got back you were hurt, and you were angry. You had nothing but fragments of memories to go on and no one to lean on. On top of that you found out you’d been replaced. Anyone in your situation would have felt betrayed. I certainly would have,” Kyle paused, took a breath. “I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, Jay, but you? You’re everything I could’ve asked for.”

Kyle finished with a flourish then reddened, unsure of what to do after his grand little speech.

Jason’s breath left him in a rush and he slammed his mouth to Kyle’s. 

Kyle jerked in surprise, but Jason was pulling away already. 

“Sorry,” he panted, “Sorry, I just—thanks, Kyle.”

Kyle grinned, leaning forward to peck Jason on the mouth, then the nose, his cheeks, his hair.

Jason laughed. “Okay, okay. I get it.”

They lay in bed for hours, talking and laughing until Dick and Donna dropped by with Chinese takeout for movie night. Jason and Dick insisted on watching Sharknado. It was terrible. They loved it. 

-

“Hey, Kyle?” Jason’s voice was soft, almost inaudible in the night. The darkness made him bolder. 

Kyle hummed, turning his gaze from the stars to look into the ones in Jason’s eyes.

“I think,” Jason said, “I’m in love with you.”

Kyle’s mouth fell open and his heart skipped enough beats in his chest he was certain he should be dead. He leaned forward, a whisper of a touch against Jason’s mouth. 

_I think I’m in love with you too._

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! it's 2:45 am i am certified The Worst, i should be studying. thanks for reading!!  
> tumblr: @litttlewings


End file.
